In two recent editorials, I've focused on the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of scientific research and the effect of that trend on chemistry. I have noted that the ACS Strategic Plan for 2004–06 explicitly addresses this issue.

Another issue confronting the chemical enterprise that is addressed by the ACS Strategic Plan is the need to promote inclusiveness in our profession. The plan states that ACS "will advance inclusiveness and diversity in the profession of chemistry and within the Society such that the membership and leadership demographics of ACS more closely parallel that of society in general."

Many elements of ACS are engaged in addressing this challenging objective. One is the ACS Committee on Professional Training (CPT), which recently held the first in a series of workshops on strategies for increasing both participation of underrepresented minority undergraduate students in chemistry and the number of ACS-approved undergraduate programs at minority-serving institutions. The workshop was organized by University of Arizona chemistry professor Jeanne E. Pemberton, a former chair of CPT and currently a consultant to the committee.

CPT identified a number of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and several institutions that serve a large African American undergraduate population for participation in the workshop. Among them were Alcorn State University, Chicago State University, Claflin University, Clark-Atlanta University, Fisk University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University, Savannah State University, Southern University and A&M College, Spelman College, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University.

Representatives of these colleges and universities, members of CPT and other units of ACS governance, representatives from other interested institutions, and ACS staff met over a weekend at the ACS headquarters. In her introductory